Garden Redo Project: New Garden Fence, Part 1

The fence was definitely the biggest/hardest part of the whole garden redo. We knew it was going to be a lot of work, but it was more complicated than expected. In fact originally the fence was going to be one quick post - and now it's two long ones.

We chose 3 ft high white vinyl fence from Home Depot. The 8 foot panels were the same price as the wood fencing, but without the endless maintenance. We did have to spend extra money on fence hardware (since you have to buy the whole system) and cap posts, and the post sleeves were more than just 4x4s... but in the end the cost difference completely balances out in paint and maintenance (if not way more in favor of vinyl). Plus we knew it would look really charming while keeping Morgan Mayhem out.

First we had to mark where the fence would be in the new slightly larger footprint. We used string and various stakes and poles to mark where the posts needed to go.

We leveled out the ground - mostly this was needed in the back where the ground sloped away from the original garden footprint.

From there we measured and spaced out where the posts needed to go.

Holes were dug. We didn't have to go crazy because this is only a 3 ft picket fence, not a 6 ft solid one that has to hold up to wind storms.  But we didn't want this fence to topple when our kids decide to climb it, if Morgan decides to jump on it, or if we do have a bad snowstorm.

Cement was mixed. We inserted the pressure treated wood 4x4 posts into the ground, held them plumb with two levels and filled in the hole with cement. When the cement set (after several days... see challenge 1 below) we filled in the top with dirt.

Challenge #1: The cement didn't want to set
We've had a ridiculous (and frustrating and frightening) amount of rain lately, and when we get a lot of rain our backyard behind the garage turns into a swamp. Which of course leads to the cement not setting. It took several unusually warm days in April and early May to get the first side to set - very frustrating! And we didn't want to move forward until we were sure it was working... easier to dig up 6 posts than 13.

Challenge #2: Vinyl fence requires precision 
Unlike wood fence that is nailed to the post in front of it (which allows for a little wiggle room in measurements), vinyl fence attaches to the sides of each post, end to end. The slide lock hardware only works if everything is EXACTLY where it needs to be.  This was very daunting... so even after measuring things with a tape measure, we then re-checked with a piece of fence with the hardware attached to make sure everything fit. We did end up with some inconsistencies of 1/4" or less that required some finagling with the post sleeves and the hardware... but when you are dealing with 80 feet in length and 13 posts, it's kind of a miracle it went as well as it did. 

So we did our first 6 posts and had to wait a full week before we could say they were sturdy. We wanted to make sure we did this right, so we finished 3 panels in a row as a "test" section.

Next, the post sleeves went over the pressure treated wood. At least this part of the vinyl system was much easier, because it gave us wiggle room over the height of the posts. The sleeves are adjustable over the wood, so we were able to adjust the ground level with gravel around them to make sure everything was the same height overall. We used string and a line level to make sure the posts were the same height.

Challenge #3: Too much cement in the corner post hole
The back corner post was the last one we did in the set, it was dark and we were working by flashlight. We used all the rest of the cement, thinking it was a good idea since the corner posts need to be sturdy. Except when we were putting on the vinyl sleeves, we realized that this one was much higher than the others and we couldn't lower it since there was too much cement! So instead we had to pull the sleeve off and cut it down a couple inches. 

Hardware was then attached to the posts. We had to be very careful because there is a slope away from the house and garage, so we made sure each fence panel was horizontally straight using a level but they stagger a little big vertically to accommodate the slope so there isn't a huge height gap between the back panel and the ground. The hardware comes in two parts - a panel with screws goes into the post (and secures the vinyl sleeve to the wood inside) and then the other piece goes into the cross rails of the panel (each panel of fence needs 8 pieces of hardware total). Once the panels are attached with screws to the posts, the fence just slides on top (and can be removed if necessary, which is nice).

We slid the panels onto the posts. Caps were added to the tops. It looked so beautiful I could weep. And it made us very excited to finish the rest.

We did the other 7 posts and holes in short order, starting at the other side of the garage and moving back around. The back was where we had the most wiggle room (all 3 panels were cuts to make it look balanced), so we did those last. More digging, more measuring, more line adjusting and being worried we would mess it up because it had to be so precise. Then more waiting because the cement took FOREVER to dry once again because it would not stop raining. After 1.5 weeks the cement had finally hardened, but the remaining space in the holes was filled with water. It felt never ending, so eventually we just filled in the holes with gravel and dirt, let the puddles flow away and moved forward anyway.

We added the post sleeves and adjusted for height with string and a string level. More hardware installed, fence panels attached. We did the 8 ft sections first that didn't need cutting.

Originally we were going to only have 2 gates, not 3, and the section of the back left was supposed to be closed off. But we realized while we were working how convenient it would be to have one in the back as well. This is supposed to be our long-term garden solution, so it's important to do it right. And since we're building the gates ourselves anyways, it's just an extra set of gate hardware (which is just a little bit more than 4 of those post connectors so it's not a big deal).

Next steps are to divide and conquer. My job is to put together the raised bed kits (you can see below that I started placing them to get a sense of where everything is going to go) and Mike is tasked with the gates. I also need to finish mulching so we can have dirt delivered - there's only room for one giant pile at a time.